Dear senator,

What are the chances in favor of keeping the electoral college or changing to election by popular vote for the president of the united states? Does the Electoral College work?

First of all, What is the electoral college? The Electoral College is a process, not a place. The founding fathers established it in the Constitution as a compromise between election of the president by a vote in Congress and election of the president by a popular vote of qualified citizens.

The Electoral College process consists of the selection of the selectors, the meeting of the electors where they vote for president and vice president,and the counting of the electoral votes by congress.

What's wrong with the electoral college? Under the electoral college system, voters vote not for the president, but for a slate of electors, who in turn the president. At the most basic level, the electoral college is unfair to voters. Because of the winner-take-all systemin each state, candidates don't spend time in states they know they have no chance of winning, focusing on the tight races in the "swing"states. It's official: The electoral college is unfair, outdated, and irrational. The best  arguments in favor of it are mostly assertions without much basis in reality. And the arguments against direct elactions are spurious at best. It's hard to say this, but Bob Dole was right: Abolish the electoral college.    